As used herein, the term “mobile device” refers to an electronic device that may be used for voice and/or data communication over a wireless communication system/network. (The terms “system” and “network” may be used interchangeably herein.) Examples of mobile devices include cellular phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), handheld devices, wireless modems, laptop computers, personal computers, etc. A mobile device may alternatively be referred to as a mobile station, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a subscriber station, a remote station, a user terminal, a terminal, a subscriber unit, user equipment, etc.
A wireless communication network may provide communication for a number of mobile devices, each of which may be serviced by a base station. A base station may alternatively be referred to as an access point, a Node B, or some other terminology.
A mobile device may communicate with one or more base stations via transmissions on the uplink and the downlink. The uplink (or reverse link) refers to the communication link from the mobile device to the base station, and the downlink (or forward link) refers to the communication link from the base station to the mobile device.
The resources of a wireless communication network (e.g., bandwidth and transmit power) may be shared among multiple mobile devices. A variety of multiple access techniques are known, including code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA), and so forth.
Benefits may be realized by improved methods and apparatus related to the operation of wireless communication networks.